GSK Stockmann appoints its first International Partner and elects new co-Managing Partner

At the end of November 2018, GSK Stockmann’s Partners elected Andreas Heinzmann as International Partner and Dr. Uwe Jäger as new co-Managing Partner. These nominations underpin GSK’s commitment to internationaliza-tion and the consistent implementation of the modernization course the firm set out on.

In the spring of 2018, the firm had decided to intensify its internationalization effort and to position itself as an independent European firm with a Germany – Luxembourg axis that is to be reinforced even more. In order to reflect this effort sustainably and systematically in the firm and on the market, the Partners decided to assign the task of coordinating and implementing this effort to their Luxembourg-based Partner Andres Heinzmann who was designated as International Partner for this purpose.

“In the coming years, we will be able to build on this foundation by further focusing the GSK brand and by strategically developing the existing international business further,” says Oliver Glück, co-Managing Partner at GSK Stockmann. “Andreas Heinzmann is just the right candidate: He is multilingual and internationally well versed from his experience with the Luxembourg business – he is very well suited for this task. We are happy that Andreas Heinzmann accepted the nomination as new International Partner at GSK.”

In his new role, Andreas Heinzmann will tend to all international affairs on the firm’s Management Board. He commented on his nomination saying, “I am delighted to have been elected International Partner – I see it as a huge vote of confidence. We now need to implement our international concept together with our international working group and the coordinators of the individual country desks that we want to set up in the future.”

As the GSK Stockmann Partners elected an International Partner, they also designated Uwe Jäger from the Heidelberg office as co-Managing Partner and successor of Olaf Schmechel. After the introduction of the new management structure in 2014, the Partners had elected Olaf Schmechel as one of the Managing Partners “of the first hour.” After almost five years, he is passing that office on to Uwe Jäger who is from now on going to drive management forward together with co-Managing Partner Oliver Glück and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Carsten Knoll.

“We would like to thank Olaf Schmechel for his many years of dedicated work as Managing Partner while we are at the same time looking forward to working with Uwe Jäger who knows the firm in all its facets from his long-term experience on the Remuneration Committee and the Partner Council, which is why he is ideally suited for the tasks ahead,” Oliver Glück commented.

The new leadership team has also set itself the tasks of continuously driving the sectoral focus forward and developing the firm with an even stronger focus on the challenges related to digitalization. The firm wants to preserve its culture of partnership and fuel sustainable growth by systematically promoting talents that are already on board and integrating individual lateral entrants.

“I am happy to have been elected co-Managing Partner and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead,” said Uwe Jäger. “I would like to contribute to promoting and demanding more digitalization and innovation at our firm while at the same time developing our corporate governance towards a structure appropriate for a modern law firm our size. This will be beneficial not just for our clients but also for our employees.”

Beyond that, the Partners at GSK Stockmann also elected the Berlin Partner Professor Jan Kehrberg as new Area head for their Projects & Public practice. He is succeeding Munich Partner Mark Butt (Public) who led the Area for many years. Over the past few years, Jan Kehrberg already worked closely with Mark Butt on developing these topics. Therefore, he has a lot of expertise in project development, which makes him the ideal candidate for leading the Area.